Hobbies, Family, & Geekery from a Stay-at-Home Dad
Been forever since I’ve done one a Humpday Update for here! Let’s see if I remember how this goes. Life’s been crazy like always so I guess these would be great to keep things organized for the blog’s sake. Ok, let’s see if we can …Read More….
I’ve been trying to not make a big deal about when I’m posting posts. You know, just acting casual like I’m a regular blogger with a regular posting schedule BUT OMG THIS IS MY FIRST FOOD POST IN A YEAR! Isn’t that nuts?! With this …Read More….
Doughnuts!
I love doughnuts. Like, looooooove em. There aren’t many things I wouldn’t do for a doughnut. Seriously, when I tell you I’d inject them into my veins, I hope you believe me. The science is there, it’s been done before by great men…
Even with my love for them, I’ve gone so many years on this site and I never made any. What’s up with that?! Chalk up another one for unexplainable laziness.
But being lazy isn’t a reason anymore! Because Wilton and their awesome selves are now the primary contributor to my new doughnut habit! No more “but the doughnut shop is so far, and so expensive..” No more “You’ve already bought 2 dozen, you don’t need any more.” Nope, now all I have to do is pull this pan out of the cabinet and in about 20 mins I could be getting my Homer Simpson on.
Ha, speaking of the doughnut shop, it reminded me of a story. One night, the wife and I were wanting doughnuts. So we went out and got to the place just before closing. The nonchalant workers who were probably tired of taking home mountains and mountains of doughnuts were like “you sure you only want a dozen?” And we were like “yeeeeah”. So she was all “I think you guys want more than that..” And the next thing we knew, we were paying for 12, but walked out with like 60! They threw away extra doughnuts at the end of the night and we were the last ones there so they unloaded on us. It was… *wipes tear*…. It was one of the greatest nights of my life. SO many doughnuts. Sooooo many. I was like Scrooge McDuck in a doughnut bin. We were making it rain doughnuts, it was glorious.
Anyway, back to now. Halloween just passed us by and Thanksgiving is right on its tail. These doughnuts will be PERFECT to greet whatever guests are gracing your presence come turkey day. The flavors just scream fall and are just dying for a chilly day and a nice cup of coffee to accompany them.
Pumpkin Doughnuts (adapted from King Arthur Flour)
1/2 cup – Vegetable Oil
3 each – Eggs, large
1 1/2 cups – Sugar
1 1/2 cups – Pumpkin Purée
1 1/2 teaspoons – Pumpkin Pie Spice
3/4 teaspoon – Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon – Nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons – Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons – Baking Powder
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons – Flour
Sticky Pecans
1 cup – Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons – Butter
1 tablespoon – Milk
1 cup – Pecans, chopped
Salted Caramel Icing
1 1/2 cups – Powdered Sugar
5 tablespoons – Milk
5 drops – Salted Caramel, Treatology Flavor System
1 cup – Chocolate Chips, melted
Notes
Alright so let’s get rollin’.
And I’m telling you, the salted caramel flavor is so perfect. I absolutely love the Treatology Flavor System. So many possibilities, it’s ridiculous. And even if you’re just using one flavor like I am here it’s so great.
It’ll be simple from there. Once they’re loose and almost out you could just pull them with your hands.
After that, you’re pretty much done!
Just need to play the waiting game till the icing is dry.
And as you could imagine, waiting for these will probably be the hardest part of the whole thing.
But I promise, the wait will be worth it! Remember how moist I told you they were? I don’t think you’ll fully understand until one is melting in your mouth.
So hopefully you get to try it soon!
And if you don’t, it’s ok…. No, actually, it’s not ok, you need them.
If you’re interested in any more doughnut love from the Wilton Treat Team, Julianne from Beyond Frosting made some awesome Apple Cider Donuts you should check out!
I Put a Spell on You Alright, so If you’re doing Halloween remotely right, there are very good odds you have already, or will be carving up a pumpkin very soon. And when you’re in there, getting elbow deep in pumpkin guts, you may or …Read More….
This Is Halloween Halloween! Seven hells, it’s already Halloween.. Do you remember last Halloween? I do. Like it was yesterday! But we mustn’t complain about how time is flying or we’ll find ourselves in 2015 before we finish the rant. Instead, let’s talk Halloween! Who …Read More….
Due to a lapse in government funding, this blog will not be updated until further notice. Please accept a picture of these awesome Pumpkin Swirled Brownies as consultation for any inconvenience this may cause.
Ok, fine. I’m not funded by the government.
Can you believe it though? I can’t. I refuse to.
I mean, when I realized my last post was almost an entire month ago, I was so disappointed in myself.
On top of that, it’s October! Stores have already had their Christmas stuff out for 2 whole months!
Anyway, what was I doing for the last month since I wasn’t blogging?
I got a job!
No, that’s a lie. The truth is I started a Daddy Day Care for my neighborhood so now in addition to my 2 boys I’m watching everyone else’s kids.
*shivers* Geeze no, could you imagine? I’d be rocking back and forth in a corner. No, no, no. I have enough on my plate already. Ok, here’s the scouts honor truth… I was traveling through the fabrics of time and space in a little blue box (that’s bigger on the inside) with a man who called himself The Doctor.
…No?
Ok, fine! I’ve been playing Grand Theft Auto 5, alright!? Whatever free time I had at night to blog has been sucked up and is being used to game instead. It’s been a good 2 years since I’ve sat down to enjoy a newly released title. 2 years! So cut me some slack. I’m sure I don’t have to go into details because there’s a good chance you or someone you know has been playing it too. I’m also not going to get into it because this is not a gaming blog. There are plenty of gaming blogs out there where you could read about that stuff to your hearts content. Like EZ-Mode Unlocked where I, coincidentally, have also been writing blog posts lately and getting back in touch with my gamer side.
Speaking of gaming, I better hurry and finish this up!
Quick rundown: These brownies are freaking amazing. Whatever you do, don’t listen to my wife. She’ll tell you they are terrible and that the recipe needs to be burned in a fire and its ashes scattered into the ocean. I guuuuuess it’s partly my fault for not warning her there was cayenne pepper in them. You should’ve seen her face! Boy, oh boy was she surprised.
I kinda felt a little heat too but it gave a depth to the brownies. The pumpkin really stands out and the cayenne pepper kinda helps it do so. Nonetheless I cut the amount of pepper in half from the original recipe just in case anyone feels the same way my wife did with pepper in her brownies. Just remember, I still back them 100% and would make them again!
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies (adapted from Martha Stewart)
8 tablespoons ~ Butter
8 ounces ~ Bittersweet Chocolate, chips or chopped2 cups ~ Flour
1 teaspoon ~ Baking Powder
½ teaspoon ~ Salt
1 ¾ cup ~ Sugar
4 each ~ Eggs
1 tablespoon ~ Vanilla Extract15 ounce can ~ Pure Pumpkin
¼ cup ~ Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 teaspoon ~ Cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ~ Nutmeg, freshly ground
½ teaspoon ~ Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/8 teaspoon ~ Cayenne Pepper¼ cup ~ Chocolate Chips (optional)
small handful ~ Cinnamon Chips (optional)
Notes:
I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not a great brownie maker. I used to be! I used to make brownies for the night shift at work all the time and they were good! But these years of being domesticated must have neutered my brownie making capabilities. My last few batches have been extremely disappointing, and on top of that, my wife made some the other day in less than 10 minutes that were kick ass (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh don’t tell her I said that). At least I was happy with this batch, I probably would’ve quit brownies if they came out bad.
But they didn’t! So here we go:
Ok, just to recap because I’m sure if you’re reading through this you’re picturing the devil in your kitchen with about 17 different bowls in front of him and an amazingly confused look on his face.
You should have one bowl of melted chocolate in front of you, along with one big bowl of batter. To add to your problems, you’re about to have a few more bowls join the mix…
Recap: You’re looking at 2 bowls. Congratulations, you just made one hell of a mess in your sink.
You’re welcome.
Moving on, it’s time for the final steps.
(Recap: Even more mess.)
Before you throw it in your oven cursing my name while looking at your disarrayed kitchen, you have one last thing to do.
And that be that. I feel like the season for posting fall recipes is already done and here I am with my first (or second if you count the banana bread) recipe for it. It’s partly due to me not making many goodies at home lately, and mostly… Well, mostly due to GTA V.
How do you like my snazzy new Fall gallery in the side bar? I never realized how much I work with pumpkin! If you’re interested in making your own, here’s the tutorial on Something Swanky that features the image mapping tool from image-maps.com.
The holidays make me do crazy things. Shopping at midnight to save $30 is one of those things. Yeah, that’s not as hardcore as I used to be… Breaking night on the same night every year, standing in line for 7 or 8 hours in …Read More….
So it would seem as if every food blog you go to has these little balls of goodness. Even saw them on TV the other day being sold in a bakery somewhere. The popularity of them is both attracting and discouraging. I don’t really want …Read More….
I know I said I was going to do a few sweet posts in a row. But you can’t blame me for going back on that for this one post. More than likely, there’s only a few days left before you’ll come across the opportunity to make these. Not to mention the fact that they’re downright addicting.
And to be honest, I did try to make a sweet version, but I failed. And I failed bad.
Don’t look at me like that! I’ve never done this before! In my adult life, this is the first time I’ve ever carved a pumpkin (with my wife’s help), let alone roasted pumpkin seeds.
Which, by the way, I think the carving went fairly well…
But I’m not here to talk pumpkin, I’m here to talk seeds. Addicting, little seeds.
When I was getting advice, thinking, and researching on how to roast the seeds, I was getting crazy excited, finding a few recipes that sounded amazing. Like one with Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil and salt, or another with garlic and parmesan. Pumpkin seeds seem to be rather flexible. So I split up my batch and made one regular with salt and oil, and the other with butter, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and brown sugar. Sadly, the sugar and spice one did not come out the way I was hoping. And by sadly, I mean if my kid wasn’t there, I probably would have cried. But if I get my hands on some more seeds I’ll give it another try.
I’ll have to fight myself to not make the salt and oil ones again though. Because… Boy, oh boy…
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:2 cups ~ Pumpkin Seeds
2 tablespoons ~ Extra Virgin Olive Oil
a good 1 1/2 teaspoons ~ Kosher or Sea Salt
Notes:
Let’s get to roastin’!:
Now, I’m pretty sure I went about this the wrong way, because I spent a good 4 hours (the clock said 15 minutes, but I think it was on the fritz) trying to pick out all the seeds from the orange goop. I wanted to keep the stringy mess to puree it and make a pumpkin pie. But honestly, I don’t have time for all that. Especially when I have 3 cans of the stuff in the pantry. But once I had freed all the seeds from their membrane prison, I filled up the bowl with water and watched all the seeds float to the top. So I guess I could have just done that from the beginning and saved me about 3 and a half freaking hours.
Heck, if you want to experiment, go for the spiced version:
Take 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ginger and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh grated nutmeg, and mix it in the dried pumpkin seeds with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. I’m pretty sure where I went wrong was the brown sugar, so just leave that out and you should be fine. Let me know if it works.
Once they get a little golden, I took them out. If you want them a little darker and crispier, by all means keep them in a few minutes longer. But this works for me.
I know it’s going to be hard, but you have to wait till they cool down before you pop one in your mouth. I mean, you don’t have to, but don’t blame me when your mouth is blistered.